Sobbering City

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Hi Everybody!
We drove over a twisting, mountain road to get to Bosnia Herzegovina. Not long after we crossed the border, we started seeing bombed out houses. We rode by the Neretva River passing many fields of grapes. Our destination was Mostar, a city situated at the base of a mountain range. This city has a thriving Muslim community and a large Catholic community. Over half of the buildings had bullet and shrapnel holes. Some buildings were just a shell, others had collapsed roofs, and others had the doors and windows shot out. A large Catholic church downtown had hundreds of bullet-shrapnel holes. We went to the Old Town and saw the stone bridge which has recently been rebuilt after being destroyed in the last war. It really touched our hearts to see this city with so many scars from the war.
In Eastern Europe, many of the hotels were built during the Communist reign. They are old, drab, have dark unappealing furniture, and are expensive for what you get. We have stayed in several because of their convenient locations. My guide book suggested staying in private accomodations. We have done it 4 times now and found it to be much nicer. In Mostar, we stayed over a new restaurant in the honeymoon suite. It reminded me of a Swiss Hotel - clean, modern, new furniture, many anemities.
I wouldn't recommend that you put this city on your agenda. I am not sorry that we went, but it definitely depressed me.
Take care,
E

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